These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Today was Monday, but we made it our Sunday. Took the rental car up into the hills again, through the national park. Almost had the place to ourselves, except for the mosquitoes. Ended it with a sunset overlooking an old city on UNESCO’s list.
2
Got pulled over. The cop’s English is a million times better than my Georgian but I’m still struggling to understand the issue. He has me tail him back around the block and shows how I went straight when I should have turned right, then lets me off with a friendly warning.
3
Loved Blindboy’s take on Black Lives Matter. People were asking for his thoughts on it, and he replied that his thoughts don’t matter much, that we white people should be primarily listening to black people’s thoughts on it and amplifying their voices.
4
Deep work this week trying to map out the different types of online businesses. There were 9 in my old framework, but I knew that was lacking. The new framework has 14 types. Needs much more testing and refinement before I push publish.
5
I was worried the pandemic might derail my business but so far it’s continued to grow. Might feel some trickle-down effects later, but I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ve achieved escape velocity. There’s a momentum to it now. I just need to keep shoveling coal on the fire.
6
“I don’t know if this is the worst or best time to read it.” That’s what a friend wrote me a couple of weeks ago, when I told him I’d started into Nineteen Eighty-Four. Finished it last night. In hindsight, was it the worst or best time to read it? I doublethink both.
7
It’s kind of like I’m running for mayor, trying to do it legit, but my main competitor is buying votes to pull ahead. I report him to the authorities, and that somehow means I’m out of line and asking for trouble. Apparently cheating is okay, but reporting it is not.
8
Gay Hendricks wrote about the Upper Limit Problem. That’s when things are going so well that you subconsciously sabotage yourself and return to a lower level you feel more comfortable with, more deserving of. Caught myself at that this morning, before it was too late.
9
There’s great value in knowing what state of mind you’re in. A couple of times recently I recognized that I wasn’t open to hearing or discussing a particular thing at a particular moment. I was able to communicate that clearly and we moved on, no drama.
10
Ray Dalio has me convinced that if you study enough history, everything that happens can be recognized as “another one of those.” History has seen many pandemics, recessions, wars, empires come and go. Unfortunately, we’re slow to learn the lessons they teach us.
11
I’m on track for my first ever month earning $10k. In one sense it’s very fulfilling, seeing all the hard work paying off. In another sense, I feel like the same person I did a year ago when I was only earning $1k. And I still have the odd day like today where everything feels ugh.
12
A bit stuck with this framework now. Shared it with my private group, didn’t get much feedback. That might mean it’s not helpful, or it might mean it’s the wrong format. A quick explainer video would probably be better than a 22-page Google Doc.
13
Sometimes I just need to sit down and write it all out, brainstorm a bit, think through the options. I think better when I write. Got a lot of clarity spending an hour at that today. Weird how we can be resistant to the things that help the most.
14
Turns out the new park nearby that we like so much was the site of a flash flood five years ago. Killed 23 people and a bunch of animals. There’s photos of locals rounding up a hippo that escaped from the zoo. Makes a place more significant, knowing the history.
15
Signed up Kawehi‘s Patreon last night. Saw her live years ago in New Orleans, suddenly came back up on my YouTube feed. She’s still doing her thing, making art her own way. Kept me in the moment checking her latest. For that, I’ll happily buy her a big slice of pizza each month.
16
Imagine being in a hospital now, struck with some illness unknown to you a year ago, one that only grows worse. Nobody can visit, and for all you know you have but weeks to live. That’s a special kind of suffering. Wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
17
Working alone is easy. I journal through problems, make decisions that way. Easy to refer back. Working with others, we talk through problems and make decisions that way. Took me a while to realize I need to write down those decisions and how we arrived at them. Otherwise we forget and run in circles.
18
Listening to Jocko on Joe Rogan. That dude makes a lot of sense. Thoughtful, smart, experienced, ego under control, willing to listen and learn. That’s the kind of person you need in a crisis. Unfortunately, the top man in the US right now has none of those traits.
19
Occasionally here in Tbilisi we’ll get a taxi driver who can’t read a map. Summon him via the app, he’ll have the route mapped out on his phone on the dashboard yet he’ll take us somewhere completely off track. Always gotta double-check the destination with him when we get in.
20
My grandmother died when I was sixteen. Played a school basketball game that day. Didn’t tell anyone the news. Down one with three seconds to go, drew up a play for me to win it at the buzzer. Got a good look but it rimmed out. I remember little else about that day.
21
About 300 spammy backlinks built to my site the past couple of days, a negative SEO attack. Probably someone I gave a bad reviewed to, trying to get their own back. Disavowed all the links already. Grateful to the person who emailed me a heads up.
22
That attack motivated me to put in a big work day today. I kinda like it when shit like this happens, when things aren’t too easy, when there’s an obstacle to overcome, an enemy at the gate. All they’ve done is made me more determined to keep going, to build a stronger castle.
23
Most of the people I hear from who want to do affiliate marketing, I try talk them out of it, suggest they freelance or get a remote job instead. Many of them seem to think they can just buy a course and hey presto, a successful business a few months later. Never that easy.
24
Dalio’s book has been helpful. One of the things he writes about is identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and how some strengths can also be weaknesses. My idealism fits that description: great in some ways, crippling in others. I’m learning to let go of it in some areas.
25
Random memories popping into my head of late: dressed like a vampire for Halloween as a kid; an older woman proposing that we cheat on her husband in New Orleans; three generations dancing in a kitchen to Baby Shark, not long before the dark.
26
I spend my first hour in front of the laptop photoshopping a helicopter onto an illustration of a mountainous landscape, drawing three lines through the mountain, then a fourth. Later I’ll see fit to add a hot air balloon. Somehow this all relates to what I do for a living.
27
One of those melancholy days, seemingly for no good reason. Don’t feel like doing much, trying not to judge. I pass the time reading about Shackleton’s ordeal a century ago, looking up maps of Antarctica, watching videos of leopard seal attacks.
28
Spent almost half an hour on the call, a call I’d been putting off for a few days. Felt I didn’t have the right energy for it, wouldn’t know what to say. I mean, what can you say to someone in that situation? But the words didn’t matter so much. It was a good call.
29
Matches alone won’t light them, but we parked next to an old campfire so we burn some tissue and get a good flame going. That does the trick. Seconds later we’re skipping around the field in the moonlight, waving our sparklers high, like a couple of kids on summer holidays.
30
Someone I gave a bad review to keeps emailing, asking me to change things, says my review is hurting sales, doesn’t understand my “angle.” There is no angle. I did the research and presented my findings. If I could recommend the course in good conscience, I would.